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AlessiLux Reimagines the Light Bulb

By Rain Noe - April 21, 2011

in Object Culture

The shape of the original light bulb is a beautiful thing: Functional and manufacturable according to the glassblowing technology available at the time. The globular part distributed light more evenly and tapered down to the narrower "screw" part to keep light sockets a manageable size.

In the years since its invention we've seen the ugly spiral CFL shape and Philips' alien-looking LED bulb, but now Alessi is really breaking the mold with their AlessiLux bulb collection, manufactured by Foreverlamp. Designed by Giovanni Alessi Anghini, Gabriele Chiave and Frederic Gooris, the AlessiLux bulbs come in more varieties than you can shake a stick at:

Says Alberto Alessi, who does not share the sentiments of the opening paragraph of this entry,

[We're moving towards] a sort of dissolution of the boundaries between the light bulb and the [lamp]: several of the designs are probably closer to a real [lamp] than a mere light bulb. I believe this new design project will open the door to a revolution in the world of lighting: it's as if we no longer needed to hide the boring, nondescript and often truly ugly bulbs.

via design addict

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Daniel Young

13 years ago

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The article neglects to mention the mercury dust hazard when one of these new bulbs breaks (requiring evacuation of the room, window opening and non-vacuuming methods of disposal) and (if it is indeed true) the latest reported scientific discovery in Germany that they actually emit cancer-causing chemicals. The mercury issue alone indicates the underlying technology of these energy-saving has been introduced prematurely.
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David

13 years ago

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I think this is what we call evolution. I don't care what shape the bulb is as long as it's equally or more effective than the previous ones.
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Andrew

13 years ago

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Frankly, I don't find any of those to be even vaguely attractive. They're all just overwrought shells to cover up the gubbins that make it work. At least the spiral CFLs have an aesthetic that's honest, functional and - dare I say it? - iconic.
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